Luke Ward pulls his truck into the Cohens' driveway, steps out, and makes his way to the front door. He rings the doorbell and, stepping back on the stoop, waits for the door to be opened. He hears the sound of the handle being turned and sees the face of his best friend's mother, Kirsten Cohen. "Hey, Mrs. Cohen," he says, giving her a small wave.
"Oh, sweetie," she says and pulls the boy into a hug. "I'm so sorry to hear about you and Marissa. Are you okay?" Kirsten releases Luke, steps back and welcomes him into the house.
"I'm okay, I guess. It's just a little hard to deal with, you know? We've been going out since forever, so it just seems…weird that we're not together anymore." He sits down at the island in the kitchen as Kirsten goes back to her coffee.
"I'm sure it does. If Ryan and Taylor ever broke up, I'm sure I'd be having this same conversation with Ryan. Have you talked to her since the break-up?"
"No. I think she's been avoiding me. I went over to her mom's place, to she if she was there. I wanted to talk to her, see why she did what she did, but Mrs. Cooper said that she hadn't seen her. Same with Mr. Cooper."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you here to see if Ryan and Seth want a ride to school?" She holds out a glass of orange juice to Luke, which he takes.
"Thanks." He takes a drink from the glass. "Yeah, I thought they might want to ride in together, since this is our first day back and everything." He takes another drink, finishing it up in one gulp.
"Speak of the devils," Kirsten says as her two sons walk in from the pool house. She watches as Ryan walks over and claps his friend on the back.
"Hey man," Ryan says, joining his friend at the island.
"Hey. I thought maybe we could carpool in this morning?" Luke looks hopefully at Ryan.
Ryan sees the question in his friend's eyes and knows that Luke needs to talk about something. "Sure, man. You ready?"
"Wait," Seth says as he sits down, "aren't we going to eat first?" He catches Ryan's glare. "Get it to go. Got it." He grabs the schmeared bagel being offered by Kirsten along with a mug of coffee and follows the other two boys out of the house.
"So, what's up," Ryan asks as they enter Luke's truck. "Worried about today?"
"Kind of," Luke admits. "I mean, Marissa and I dated for what seems like forever. How do I act around her now that we're not seeing each other anymore? We both have the same friends and stuff, so we'll still see each other around. After what she did to me at Oliver's party, I don't know that I ever want to talk to her again," the tall boy says dejectedly.
"I feel for you man." Ryan pats his friend on the shoulder. "I wish I could tell you that I talked to her and she's really sorry for what happened, but I can't. I haven't heard from her since that night. It's pissing me off because, even if you and her were done, you'd think she could come to me, her oldest friend, and talk."
"Maybe she's over at Summer's or Taylor's houses," Seth offers from the backseat, around a mouth of bagel. He takes a sip of coffee and accidentally spills some of it on Luke's backseat. Seeing the driver not paying attention, he discreetly wipes up as much as he can.
"If she was over at Taylor's, I'd probably have heard something by now," Ryan says. "Same goes for Summer's. She would have said something to you. I do have one idea where she is, but you're not going to like it," he directs at Luke.
"Oliver's," the other boy growls. "I hate that kid. If it wasn't for him, Marissa wouldn't have gotten drunk that night and messed around on me."
"We still don't know Marissa was even that drunk. The last I saw of her before Seth and Taylor got too hammered, she looked fine."
"Why else would she have cheated on me? She had to have been drunk!"
"I don't know where this new Marissa came from, but I don't like her. I love her to death, but she hasn't done anything to show that she feels bad for fooling around on you, drunk or not. You know Seth and I are here for you," Seth mumbles something from the back of the truck at this, "and I'm sure the girls understand that you didn't deserve this. Either that, or Seth and I will have words with them."
"We've got your back man," Seth says and, now that his bagel hand is empty and his coffee is finished, puts a supporting hand on Luke's shoulder. "Now tell me about you and Anna getting along at the party."
At the mention of Anna's name, Luke noticeably brightens, an action that Ryan and Seth don't fail to detect. "She's like the female version of you, Corona. I'm sure that you'd have called dibs on her if you weren't with Summer."
"You're probably right, my large friend. However, I only have eyes for my dearest at this point. Continue with your story."
"There's not much else to tell. We talked for about an hour or so, and then the thing with Marissa happened. I left in a big hurry and, she…uh…" Luke begins to stutter at this point.
Seth starts to give him grief. "She what man? She do anything crazy? Maybe jumped your bones in the elevator?" Ryan reaches into the backseat area and tries to smack his brother, but barely misses.
"No, she didn't jump my bones, douche. We might have kissed in the lobby at the stroke of midnight," he says and jumps out of the car right as they pull into the parking lot.
Ryan and Seth share a look at this and quickly follow the other boy out of the truck. Ryan catches up to him first. "Dude! Seriously?"
"Yeah," Luke says glumly.
"Well, why are you so upset about it," Seth asks. "That's awesome!" He holds up his hand for a high five.
Luke just stares at it until Seth puts his hand down. "I feel bad. I mean, Marissa and I had just broken up and now I'm kissing some girl that I've known for all of an hour in the lobby of a hotel?"
"Whoa there," Ryan says, stopping the other boy with a hand to his chest. "You had just caught Marissa cheating on you with someone else and you think that kissing a girl at midnight on New Year's Eve was wrong? It's tradition man, there's nothing wrong with that. Marissa was in the wrong that night, not you. That's cool that you kissed Anna, man," he says, a slight grin on his face. "She's not really like anything you're usually interested in."
"I know. I don't know what it is, either."
"Maybe you'll find out," Seth offers. Luke looks at him curiously. "I mean, she is going to be here today, right?"
"Oh shit."
"Hey, Luke," a very feminine voice yells from the quad.
"Speak of the devil," Seth whispers in Luke's ear. "The very sexy, seductive devil."
Luke pushes him away lightly and turns to face Anna as she approaches. "Hey there!"
She walks up and envelops him in a hug, catching him off guard. "How are you? How was the rest of your break?"
Luke runs his fingers through his hair. "About how you'd expect I guess."
"Yeah, I'd kinda hoped that had worked itself out over the break, but I guess not. So you haven't heard from her?"
Luke just shakes his head as Summer and Taylor walk up.
"Look who we found," Summer says. "We saw Anna in the quad when we got here. We were just sitting around talking when she saw you and we couldn't keep up when she took off."
Luke looks back at Anna when Summer says this and sees a blush spreading across her face. He smiles at her. "I can't really blame her," he says, a smile on his face.
Anna laughs and punches him on the shoulder. "So you want to walk me to my first class?"
Luke shrugs his shoulders. "Sure. What do you have?" The two walk off, leaving their friends in the quad.
"You're Marissa's oldest friend," Taylor says to her boyfriend. "What do you think of this new development?"
"I think Marissa made a bad decision and I hope she snaps out of it." He looks at his watch and scans the crowd. "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to be this morning. It's time for class." He takes Taylor's hand and walks toward the building, followed by Seth and Summer.
The Parking Lot
"Did you see that? Did you see how quickly they replaced you?"
Marissa looks over at Oliver, tears in her eyes. "I can't believe they don't want to be friends with me any more. So I made a mistake! I didn't mean to!"
"I know, Riss," Oliver says, consolingly. "And you were going to apologize to them. Then what happened? Luke's new girlfriend came up and ruined everything. Now Taylor and Summer have a new friend and you're out in the cold. Didn't I tell you this was going to happen?"
Marissa nods her head.
"Did they even try to contact you over break?"
She shakes her head.
"Well forget about them. What did we learn in therapy, huh? Say it with me now: We are responsible for our own actions. You were going to apologize to them, but they were too busy with their new friend. They didn't make one attempt to apologize to you for how they treated you after the party, did they?"
Marissa shakes her head again.
"Trust me, Riss. I'm your only friend now." He holds out his hand and she places hers in it. "You ready to go to class?" She nods her head and they get out the car.
The past week had gone by in a blur for Oliver. Ever since the night of the party, things with Marissa had been great. She'd gone home for a short amount of time the next day and the resulting backlash from her friends, deserved or not, had caused her to come running back to him, her one true friend. Strange how she had forgotten it was he who had gotten her in trouble with her friends in the first place. All he had to do after that was place a call to her service provider and request that a few specific numbers be blocked from calling her phone, saying that they 'had placed threatening phone calls', and it was all over. Marissa was all his.
This semester was going to be awesome.
First Period (Ryan and Taylor)
"I can't believe you talked me out of dropping French. You know I can't handle this language. Korean, Latin, Spanish; those I can do. French is just too much for me," Ryan says as he joins Taylor at their assigned table.
"Just think about how much extra time together we'll have," Taylor says, setting her books down and taking her boyfriend's hand.
"What I'm thinking about right now is the Drafting class I could have taken that was being offered in this hour. And how I don't want to have to deal with Mademoiselle Gavalda for another semester."
"I don't think you have to worry about that," Taylor says in a dazed voice.
Ryan looks up to see a bearded, scruffy man, his back turned to Ryan, writing on the blackboard. The man finishes writing and turns to face the class.
"Bonjour class," the man says, a heavy French accent present in his speech. Ryan hates him immediately. "I am Monsieur Henri Michel de Momourant and I will be your new French teacher. Most regrettably, your previous teacher, a," he picks up the name plate belonging to their teacher and reads it, "Mademoiselle Gavalda, had a death in the family and had to return to her, and my, native France. Now, we will begin by you all introducing yourselves. I will hear your name and what you did over the break. I will start with myself. Je suis Henri Michel de Momourant. J'ai dépensé la coupure à un château dans Burgundy appartenant à mon vin sirotant de famille et traduisant les poésies antiques." Ryan rolls his eyes as a collective sigh issues from the female constituent of their class. "You there," the man calls, pointing to Ryan's table. "You with the long, pretty hair! What did I just say?"
Taylor chirps as her boyfriend shakes her out her dreamy state. She quickly gathers her wits and answers, "You just said your name and that you spent the break in your family's chateau in Burgundy, translating ancient poetry, which is très romantique!"
"Very good, my little auburn-haired beauty! We shall start with you!"
"Je suis Mademoiselle Taylor Townsend. Je suis allé à une partie pendant la nouvelle année avec mes amis à un hotel," Taylor says as the teacher approaches her and Ryan's table.
"Very good my dear, although why anyone would be spending the break with you at a party instead of in a more romantic setting, is beyond me." He smiles and takes her hand, giving it a small kiss.
Ryan begins to see red and decides it's time to move this introduction period along. "I think it's someone else's turn, don't you," he asks the older man.
"Indeed. Why don't we move along to you, young man?"
"Je suis Monsieur Ryan Cohen et j'étais à un hôtel pour une partie," Ryan says quickly and without much enthusiasm.
"I have to admit, Monsieur Cohen, that was probably the worst French I have ever heard. It may have made my ears bleed to hear that, but I know you tried your best, so you shall get just below average marks. Please, Mademoiselle Townsend, rescue my ears by telling me something interesting about Monsieur Cohen."
Ryan looks over at his girlfriend, a smile on his face, waiting for her to say something impressive. The smile gradually turns into a frown, however, as Taylor seems to be unable to come up with something. "Taylor? Any time you're ready," he prods.
"Ryan est mon ami," she says, after much hesitation.
"That is interesting, mon chéri," Taylor blushes at this phrase and Ryan wills himself to calm down again, "but not interesting enough. You will have to do a little bit better than that to redeem Monsieur Cohen." He waits a few moments more for Taylor to come up with something. "Nothing, Mademoiselle? You're boyfriend must be a most uninteresting person for you not to be able to come up with one thing to say about him. Maybe you are not as alike as you think, no? Moving on! You, at the table behind Mademoiselle Townsend! Continue!"
First Period (Luke and Anna)
"Welcome to Western Civ," Luke says as he pulls out a chair for Anna at an empty table. "The class won't be the same without Corona here to crack jokes all class long, but he changed his hours to fit with an art class that he wanted." He slides her seat in for her and joins her across the table.
"I'm sure I'll still have a good time. I've got pretty good company," she says to Luke, a smile on her face. "Thanks for helping me to fit in here. It was pretty cool of you and your friends to be so nice to me right away."
"It's not a big deal. I like to think that we're all pretty easy going in our little circle, although there's always room for one more."
"Thanks Luke. So tell me about Mr. Bendis. Is he a pretty cool teacher?"
"He's okay I guess. He's usually an okay guy, although he's kind of a stickler for the rules. Like, check this out," he says pointing to the clock. At the exact moment the clock strikes eight, Mr. Bendis walks through the door of the classroom, shutting it behind him. "Right on time."
"Good morning, class," the teacher begins, only to be interrupted by the door opening again. "Miss Cooper! You're fashionably late. How does a tardy sound?"
"I was escorting a new student around, Mr. Bendis. Can't you make an exception," Marissa asks, moving aside to reveal Oliver Trask. Luke's eyes narrow at the boy. He hears Anna suck in a sharp breath.
"If I make an exception for you, then I have to make an exception for the next person as well. Besides, Mr. Ward over there managed to escort Miss Stern around the campus and get her to class on time." At this, Marissa and Oliver both looked over and noticed Luke and Anna for the first time. The frowns already on the faces of the latter were joined by equally dark glares on the faces of the former.
"Fine," Marissa says, snatching the tardy slip from the teacher's hand and goes to sit down at the one remaining empty table. Oliver goes to follow, but is stopped by Mr. Bendis.
"I believe you'll be taking one as well, Mr. Trask. And," he says, handing the slip to the boy, "why don't you start by introducing yourself to the remainder of the class?"
Oliver introduces himself, stating his name and nothing else, and then moves to rejoin Marissa at the remaining empty seat.
"Miss Stern? You next."
Anna stands. "I'm Anna Stern and I just moved to Newport Beach from Pittsburgh. I enjoy sailing, reading, and hanging out with my friends." A snort comes from the table next to Luke, and he turns to see Marissa covering her mouth with her hand. "My new friends," Anna amends, smiling at Luke from across the table. She re-takes her seat. "That was pretty rude of Marissa."
"I know," he says, glaring at Marissa.
The first half of the class passes uneventfully, Luke making sure that Anna is caught up on what she may have missed the first semester, until Luke feels something hit him in the arm. He looks and sees a rolled up ball of paper laying the desk. Looking up, he sees Mr. Bendis writing something on the blackboard, so he opens it. Inside, written in pink ink with the curly loops he knew belonged to his ex-girlfriend, was written:
Moved on fast, didn't ya?
Shaking his head at her immaturity, he takes out his own pen and scribbles this in reply:
Just friends. Same question, heartless bitch!
Luke crumples it up and, again making sure that Mr. Bendis is still at the board, tosses it back to her. He watches as she unrolls the ball, reads it, frowns, and then replies by giving him the finger.
"She's just full of charm today, isn't she," Anna asks from across the table.
"Who knows? I don't really want to talk about her anymore," he says, turning back to Anna, a smile on his face. "So how you doing? You catching up on everything?"
Lunch
"I'm not saying you had to come up with something amazing Taylor, but anything would have been better than you just sitting there!"
"I'm sorry Ryan, but is this really worth dropping the class over," Taylor questions as she joins Seth and Summer at the lunch table.
"I don't really feel like sitting in a class that I hate, watching my girlfriend get hit on by some creepy French dude for five months. That's not my idea of fun."
"I get the feeling that we're missing an integral part of this conversation," Seth whispers in Summer's ear. She nods her acquiescence.
"Fine, drop French. See if I care. You're only punishing yourself with this," Taylor says in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest as she does. She opens her mouth to explain to Seth and Summer what is going on, but is interrupted by Luke's loud voice.
"I just can't believe that she thinks that I'm the one to blame for her acting like a stupid ho!"
"Well, you did say she was kind of drunk, right? Maybe she blacked out and Oliver gave her a different series of events than actually occurred?" Anna waves at Summer as she and Luke join the other four at the lunch table.
"I guess that's possible," Luke concedes, "but that doesn't mean she has to be such a bitch about me hanging out with you!"
"Okay, hold it," Summer yells, her hands up in the air. "Obviously, everyone has a story to tell at lunch today, so we'll start with Taylor and Ryan, since they've been waiting the longest." She points at the two and everybody turns to focus.
"Our French teacher left," Ryan states. "We got a new one, but he's this creepy guy that has a crush on Taylor. He spent the entire period calling on her and kissing her hand and calling her Mademoiselle Townsend."
"He was not flirting with me, Ryan! He was simply complementing me on my fabulous usage of the French language."
"Whatever. I don't care if he is flirting with you, I just don't want to see it," he says to Taylor, then turns back to the others. "So now I'm dropping French and picking up Drafting."
"Very interesting news, Cohen," Summer says. "Now it's Luke and Anna's turn."
"I think our news is bigger," Anna starts, "but we'll let you guys be the judge. Marissa came in a little late-"
"Which isn't news in and of itself," Luke interrupts, "but it's who she came in with that does it."
"Well, who is it you two," Summer asks. "I need my gossip!"
"She came in with Oliver," Anna tells the others. "She let it slip during class that she's been hanging out with Oliver since the party. She said that she didn't think you guys were very good friends since you haven't tried to talk to her since the party and she blames everything that happened on Luke." She rubs his shoulder consolingly.
"What a biatch! And we did try to call her," Summer yells again.
"Summer and I both tried to call her. That little…" Taylor starts, leaving the insult unfinished.
"I have news," Seth says, raising his hand. Summer raises her eyebrows at him and he continues. "My art teacher told us today that we'd be using nude models this year. So I'm, uh, pretty psyched about that."
"Sweetie," Summer says innocently.
"Yes, my dear?"
"If you so much as think about any woman besides me naked, I'll kick your ass all the way back to when you were still growing your short and curlies. Got it?"
"Got it, Summer dearest."
Last Period (Luke)
Luke grabs the last book of the day and, thanking God above that the day was almost over, closes his locker. Turning, he doesn't see the girl walking toward him and almost knocks her over. "My bad. I didn't see you-" he says, and notices he ex-girlfriend glaring at him, "there. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it, jerk. It's not like I need my personal space or anything." She moves to walk around Luke, only to be stopped as he grabs her arm. "Let me go, Luke."
"Wait Marissa. We need to talk. I want to know what's happened to you in the past week! You're not talking to your friends, you're acting like a bitch, and now Oliver's here?" He lets go of her arm and she backs away, looking down at the ground. "This isn't the Marissa Cooper I know. If you don't want to be with me, fine, but don't do this to your friends."
Marissa turns red at the mention of Taylor and Summer. "Don't talk to me about my friends! Nobody was around to look after me at the party! Where were my friends then," she yells, getting a couple looks from other, nearby students. "Ryan was taking care of his drunk ass girlfriend, Summer was off with her geeky new boyfriend, and you? You were flirting with some chick I didn't even know! Don't talk to me about friends, Luke. Oliver is my friend now. You guys all ditched me for that little nerdy lezbo, Hannah."
"It's Anna and don't talk about her like that," Luke growls. "She's a nice person and didn't do anything for you to be angry with her. You want to be angry with me? Go ahead. You'd better learn to look after yourself, because this new friend of yours? He's not going to be there for you like Ryan, the girls and I were." He looks up as the bell rings.
"Great, I'm late again. Thanks, ass," she turns and walks off. Luke shakes his head as he, too, leaves to catch his next class. Neither teen notices a watching Oliver, who smiles and stalks off down the hallway.
Last Period (Ryan)
Ryan throws the remainder of his books into his locker and slams the door shut. Luckily, his last class was a study hall so he wouldn't need them. Just as he is about to walk away, a voice stops him.
"Monsieur Cohen!"
Ryan rolls his eyes and turns at the sound of his name, knowing full well, by way of the grating accent, who is calling him. "Yes, Monsieur de Momourant," he asked, trying to make his displeasure for the man seem as obvious as possible. The wiry Frenchman saunters up to Ryan and he has to steel himself to keep from gagging. Apparently, showers are shunned in France, because his teacher reeks of cheese and weakness.
"I have heard that you are dropping my class. Is that true?" The man directs him to a side hallway, where they could talk without background noise from a hundred other teens interrupting them.
"Yeah. Who did you hear that from?" Realization dawns on Ryan. "Did Taylor say something to you?"
"Mademoiselle Townsend may have mentioned it in passing. Regardless, I think that running away from my class, no matter how terrible you are at French, is not the right answer."
"Look, it's not just because I'm bad at speaking French. I'm picking up a class more suited to what I want to study in college."
"That is very good, Ryan. I am happy to hear that your change in course of study is not because of my attraction to your girlfriend. Although, if it was, I do not think that leaving my class is the right answer."
Ryan does a double take. Did he actually just hear his teacher say that he was hitting on his girlfriend? "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
"Maybe that is why your pronunciation of my beautiful language is so bad. Your hearing is très terrible! I said that I hoped you were not leaving my class because of my attraction to Mademoiselle Townsend."
So Ryan did hear him right! "You're attracted to my girlfriend? But…that's wrong," he says, confused. Why is a teacher admitting to him that he thinks his girlfriend is attractive? He knows that Taylor is hot, don't get him wrong, but this guy has to be in his mid to late twenties, at least. "Not to mention, illegal!"
"Unfortunately, mon ami, you are right. But," he says, holding up a finger, "I will not allow myself to be dissuaded by your country's idiotic laws. I will do my best to romance Mademoiselle Townsend." Henri Michel begins to walk off until Ryan stops him.
"You can't do this. I'll tell Dr. Kim. You'll never get away with it!"
"Monsieur Cohen, I am a Frenchman! We are known for our ability to get out of tough situations. For example, I'm but a foreigner, far from home. How would it be my fault that Taylor is keen on moi? You were there today; you saw that class. Aside from you and the other gentleman, all of my students are of the fairer sex. And they are all in love with me. Do you not think that this Dr. Kim would understand that I cannot keep an entire class of students from having romantic feelings for me?"
"This isn't fair," Ryan protests.
"It is very unfortunate, true. But, as they say, 'il y a beaucoup de poissons en mer.' Best of luck to finding yourself a new fish, Monsieur Cohen." He turns back to leave.
Ryan quickly thinks for a second. "Monsieur de Momourant?"
The older man stops again. "Oui?"
"I'll see you in class tomorrow."
"I see the American spirit of competition has made its appearance. Very well, Ryan. I wish you the best of luck, however, I feel that you will not be the winner in this little game."
Later, Jimmy Cooper's Apartment
"Jesus, I'm coming, I'm coming," Jimmy yells to the incessant banging on his doorway. The knocking doesn't stop, instead intensifying. "What the hell-" he asks, opening the door.
Sandy Cohen rushes in, barely giving Jimmy time to step out of the way. "Coop, take a seat. I need to talk to you."
"Hey Sandy. Nice to see you, too. Don't call me 'Coop' though. That's my daughter's name." He notices Sandy is in an excited state, as he can't stop moving. "Can I get you a glass of water, maybe a Vicodin? You okay?"
"Sorry, Jimmy. I just got out of a settlement conference and I've had WAY too much coffee today. I guess you probably want to know why I'm here, huh?"
"Well, uh, sure. You want to sit down or something," he asks, motioning to his couch.
"No, I'm good. I'll just pace incessantly for a while. So I've got it, you're get back on top scheme. Kirsten and I came up with it last night at dinner. We were eating at the Lighthouse. You remember that place, don't you Jimmy?"
"Of course! I managed it for two summers while I was at USC. I love that place. So what's up? You want me to manage the Lighthouse?" He laughs.
"Almost Jimmy, but not quite. We're going to buy it," Sandy says, with much enthusiasm. He sees that Jimmy doesn't seem to have the same enthusiasm for his idea. "What's wrong, Coop? I figured this would be the perfect idea. This would be the perfect thing to get me out of the office every now and then and nobody's better at managing money that you."
"I don't know Sandy," Jimmy says, and rubs his head. "If I'm so great at handling money, how come I can barely support myself? How am I supposed to be able to be a partner in a restaurant?" He sighs and sits down on the couch. "I've been thinking a lot lately. Maybe my future isn't here in Newport anymore. I can't get a job to save my life and I'm almost out of money. I called my brother in Phoenix and he's got some things I could do down there."
Sandy looks confused. "You can't leave Jimmy! You're one of the only friends I have here. Plus, your kid is here along with Veronica. Have you floated this idea to either one of them yet?"
Jimmy gives a pitiful laugh. "I hardly ever see my daughter anymore. She's always over at Julie's. And Veronica? I don't know what's going on between her and I. Sure we're, uh, dating or whatever, but who knows if this is a long-term thing. I mean, I can't have her supporting me and everything."
"So you're a little low on cash," Sandy says with a shrug. "It happens. You have to still have enough from cashing in your 401k to last you for awhile longer, don't you?"
"Sandy, I've got enough to last myself for two more months. After that, I'm done."
Sandy walks over to his friend and pats him on the back. "Come do this restaurant with me, Jimmy. I need this just as much as you do."
"I don't know, Sandy. I just don't know."
The Cooper house
Marissa slowly opens the front door to her mother's house, hoping to make it in, grab some clothes and get out before Julie gets a chance to notice her. Her hopes are dashed as her mother's voice screeches out her name.
"Marissa Lynne Cooper! Get in this kitchen right now!"
Marissa follows her mother's voice into the kitchen, where Julie Cooper is currently leaning against the counter, glaring at her only daughter. "Why are you coming into this house, acting all sneaky? And where have you been for the past couple of days? All you'd tell me when I called was that you were over at a friend's house and then I don't see you until this afternoon. Were you planning on coming home anytime soon?"
"Well I'm home now," Marissa says with a shrug and a smile. She tries to walk back out of the kitchen and up to her room but her mother will have none of it.
"I don't think so young lady. Where do you think you're going?"
"I was going to change my clothes and then I was going to hang out with Oliver."
"Oliver?" Julie looks questioningly at her daughter. "Is this the boy you met at therapy, the one that was bothering you?"
Marissa turns red. "Who told you that? Did Luke say something to you?" Julie looks away. "That asshole!"
Julie walks towards her daughter. "Look sweetie, I know things haven't been the greatest since your father and I split, but I'm trying my best. I wish you would just tell me what's going on with you, like why you're spending time with a boy from therapy that was bothering you instead of your boyfriend." She lays a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Just talk to me sweetie."
Marissa shrugs off the hand. "Luke and I aren't dating, mother," she says venomously, "and I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to others behind my back." She turns to leave the kitchen.
"Marissa!" Her mother's voice stops her. "I want you back by no later than eight o'clock. Got it?"
Marissa groans in obvious frustration. "Fine," she says, without turning, and continues the trek to her room.
A few minutes later
Marissa hops back in Oliver's BMW. He can tell that she's upset, as she has a large frown on her face. "Everything okay," he asks. "You were in there an awful long time to just change clothes."
"My mom's being stupid," she mutters. "I have to be back home at eight. Oh, and she knows about you, too. Luke said something to her."
Oliver shakes his head. "That doesn't surprise me."
"It doesn't," she asks, looking confused.
"Of course not. He's trying to keep you from having friends now that you don't want to be his girlfriend. He probably said something about being worried about who you were hanging out with and got your mom concerned as well."
"She was," Marissa exclaims. "It's so stupid. Why can't they just leave me alone?"
"You know, it's not you that's changed. It's them, your former friends. They let you down when you needed them and now they're moving on without you. I will always be here for you," he says, taking her hand. "You know that, right?"
"Yeah, Oliver, I do."
A/N: Okay, well, that took pretty long to get out there. I know I keep saying it's not going to take as long for my next chapter and it doesn't happen, so I'm going to stop putting that. Instead I'll say that I'll make sure that I put out the best as quickly as I can. I do have a definite story in mind for all of our friends in Newport, so don't think that I'm throwing random crap out there. Random fact of the chapter: Burgundy, the area where Henri Michel's family's chapel is, is a region historically situated in modern-day France and Switzerland. Burgundy produces wines of the same name. Although "Burgundy" means red, the Burgundy region produces both white wines and red wines. Burgundy wines can be described as varied, complex, human, and earthy. They are highly regarded because of historical tradition, and arguably because they transmit well the flavor of the land. The reputation, quality, and small numbers of production of the top wines mean high demand and high prices: Burgundy wines are among the most expensive wines in the world. Enjoy and please review! I know you Townwood fans are still out there! Let's see some Ryan and Taylor love! Thanks!
AZ
